I Walk the Line

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For the 1964 album, see I Walk the Line (album). For the 1970 soundtrack album, see I Walk the Line (soundtrack album).

"I Walk the Line" is a song written by Johnny Cash and recorded in 1956. A 1970 movie of the same name, starring Gregory Peck, featured a soundtrack of Johnny Cash songs including the title song. In 2005 Walk the Line was produced starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, directed by James Mangold.

Song

The song is about Cash staying faithful to his wife at the time, Vivian while on the road: I find it very, very easy to be true/I find myself alone when each day is through/Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you/Because you're mine/I walk the line.

Cash scored his first number one hit with the song and it is the source of the title of the 2005 biopic Walk the Line (as well as the non-biographical 1970 movie mentioned above).

The song is very simple and like most Cash songs, the lyrics tell more of a story than the music conveys. (You've got a way to keep me on your side/You give me cause for love that I can't hide/For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide).

It is based upon the "boom-chicka-boom" or "freight train" rhythm common in many of Cash's songs. In the original recording of the song, there is a key change between each of the five verses, and Cash hums the new root note before singing each verse. The final verse is sung a full octave lower than the first verse.

The unique chord progression for the song was inspired by an accidental backwards playback on Cash's tape recorder while he was in the Air Force. Later, he wrote the lyrics in a backstage dressing room in Gladewater, Texas in 1955, after a discussion with fellow performer Carl Perkins encouraged him to adopt "I Walk the Line" as the song title. Cash originally intended the song as a slow ballad, but producer Sam Phillips preferred a faster arrangement, which Cash grew to like as the uptempo recording met with success.

The song was originially recorded at the Sun studio on April 2, 1956, and was released on May 1. It spent six weeks at the top spot on the U.S. country charts that summer, and also reached number 19 on the pop music charts. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #30 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

In 2006 Levi Strauss & Co. created three advertisements using the song, featuring cover versions by Megan Wyler and Adem Ilhan. Indie rock band Murder by Death released the song "Sometimes the Line Walks You" in 2006 as an homage both in name and style to Cash's work.

See also

• Johnny Cash Sun discography
• Johnny Cash discography

Johnny Cash

Studio albums With His Hot and Blue Guitar | Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous | The Fabulous Johnny Cash | Greatest! | Hymns by Johnny Cash | Songs of Our Soil | Sings Hank Williams | Ride This Train | Now, There Was a Song! | Now Here's Johnny Cash | The Lure of the Grand Canyon | Hymns from the Heart | The Sound of Johnny Cash | All Aboard the Blue Train | Blood, Sweat and Tears | Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash | The Christmas Spirit | I Walk the Line | Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian | Orange Blossom Special | Sings the Ballads of the True West | Everybody Loves a Nut | Happiness is You | Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter | From Sea to Shining Sea | Old Golden Throat | Heart of Cash | The Holy Land | More of Old Golden Throat | Hello, I'm Johnny Cash | Man in Black | A Thing Called Love | America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song | The Johnny Cash Family Christmas | Any Old Wind That Blows | Johnny Cash and His Woman | Ragged Old Flag | Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me | The Johnny Cash Children's Album | Sings Precious Memories | John R. Cash | Look at Them Beans | One Piece at a Time | The Last Gunfighter Ballad | The Rambler | I Would Like to See You Again | Gone Girl | Silver | A Believer Sings the Truth | Rockabilly Blues | Classic Christmas | The Baron | The Adventures of Johnny Cash | Johnny 99 | Highwayman | Rainbow | Believe in Him | Heroes | Class of '55 | Johnny Cash is Coming to Town | Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series | Water from the Wells of Home | Boom Chicka Boom | Highwayman 2 | The Mystery of Life | American Recordings | The Road Goes on Forever | Unchained | American III: Solitary Man | American IV: The Man Comes Around | American V: A Hundred Highways | American VI Live albums At Folsom Prison | At San Quentin | The Johnny Cash Show | På Österåker | Strawberry Cake | The Survivors Live | VH1 Storytellers | At Madison Square Garden Soundtrack albums I Walk the Line | Little Fauss and Big Halsy | The Gospel Road | Return to the Promised Land Compilation albums Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 | The World of Johnny Cash | Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | International Superstar | Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 | The Unissued Johnny Cash | Johnny & June | Tall Man | Encore | Love, God and Murder | The Essential Johnny Cash | Unearthed | The Legend | The Legend of Johnny Cash | Personal File | The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II Songs "25 Minutes to Go" | "A Boy Named Sue" | "Cat's in the Cradle" | "Cocaine Blues" | "Cry, Cry, Cry" | "Dark as a Dungeon" | "Engine 143" | "Folsom Prison Blues" | "Get Rhythm" | "Goodnight, Irene" | "Green Green Grass of Home" | "Greystone Chapel" | "Hey Porter" | "Home of the Blues" | "Hurt" | "I Walk the Line" | "In My Life" | "It Ain't Me Babe" | "Jackson" | "Like the 309" | "The Man Comes Around" | "One Piece at a Time" | "The One on the Right is on the Left" | "Remember the Alamo" | "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" | "Ring of Fire" | "What'd I Say" Family June Carter Cash | John Carter Cash | Rosanne Cash | Carlene Carter | Vivian Liberto | Tommy Cash | Carter Family Related articles Sun Records | Columbia Records | Mercury Records | American Recordings | Legacy Recordings | Lost Highway Records | Sam Phillips | Jack Clement | Rick Rubin | Carl Perkins | Jerry Lee Lewis | The Highwaymen | Waylon Jennings | Kris Kristofferson | Willie Nelson | Folsom Prison | San Quentin State Prison | Outlaw country | Tennessee Three | Shel Silverstein | Walk the Line | Man in Black | Cash: The Autobiography

pl:I Walk the Line

Wikipedia information about I Walk the Line This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "I Walk the Line". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.